MILFORD CONNECTICUT HISTORY

Founded February 23, 1639

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Videos have been recorded as part of the Milford Memories Project of the Milford Rotary Club and are a resource to historians. All of the following are kept by me, Joseph Barnes, Esq. Some are available at Milford Library. A few regrettably are missing and are noted as such.

Special thanks to Jerry Patton (**) founder and guiding
light of the project,

Roger Newton was born possibly as early as 1607 but most
likely about 1620 in a town in eastern England
likely Bourne, Lincolnshire, England.
A number of Newtons arrived in America
and Canada in
the 1600s but some say he was the first of his family to do so landing at Boston
about the year 1638, Coincidentally the same year Davenport
and Prudden arrived with the future Milford Settlers.

He was the son of Samuel Newton, of the same family as Sir
Isaac Newton (1642-1726).

Samuel's parents (Roger's grandparents) are believed to have
been John Newton born on April 1, 1565
in Bourne, Lincolnshire and Alice
Hales.

Young Roger Newton enrolled in 1636 in CambridgeUniversity [England].
In the Alumni Cantabrigienses which provides a record of students
enrolled between 1261-1900 his entry reads:

"NEWTON, ROGER. Matriculated as a"sizar" [a student receiving financial help from the college while having
menial duties in return] from
King's, Easter, 1636…

He migrated to Boston
in New England where he studied theology at Harvard. There
is no record of his graduation possibly as the early Harvard records were
accidentally burned. Rev. Cotton Mather speaks of him as one of the young
students who came from England
to finish their education in America.

A puritan superstar of the time, Rev. Thomas Hooker moved to
Hartford from Boston
in 1636, he returned to Boston several
times, and it is said that "crowds rushed to hear him." In 1639,
Thomas Hooker and Governor Haynes remained in Boston
nearly a month, and one of Hooker's sermons delivered in Cambridge
at that time, was two hours in length. It is presumed that Hooker and Newton
made their acquaintance at Harvard at this time

In 1640, Roger traveled on foot from Cambridge,
MA to Hartford,
CT to study for the ministry under Rev. Thomas
Hooker at his home.It is possible that Rev.
Hooker may have known grandfather, Rev. John Newton of Bourn, while studying at
CambridgeUniversity.
CambridgeUniversity
assigned John as minister to the church in Bourne. If so, then Roger Newton and
Thomas Hooker may have had ties predating Harvard.

Roger married Hooker's eldest daughter, Mary Hooker at
Hartford in 1644 (winter of 1645 in the old Julian calendar as new year then was
March 25). Mary Hooker, as a child, had walked the long miles through the Massachusetts
wilderness beside the litter which carried her invalid mother, Susannah Hooker;
her journey was commemorated in marble on the front of the Capitol in Hartford.
"Susannah Hooker was a lady of culture, and worthy to be the companion of
such a man as Thomas Hooker." They had once lived in Holland
where many strong Calvinists, like the Pilgrims, had fled to avoid the Church
of England's dictates.

The Hartford
home of Thomas Hooker was a large two story house close by that of Governor
Haynes, corner lot on the streets now named Arch and Prospect then called,
"Meeting House Alley," connecting the parsonage and the meeting
house. When choosing a place for a home, water supply and boat access to other
settlements especially for escape from Indians, so it was prudently set few dozen
feet north ofthe Little River, (now ParkRiver).

The Farmington area
was settled in 1640 in an area called Tunxis after the friendly Indians there. The
Tunxis tribe had welcomed the white men as a protection against the Mohawks. Farmington
was incorporated in 1645. Newton
became their first minister serving from the "church Covenant" in 1652
to 1657. It is listed that Newton
was an original settler and a "Founder" of Farmington.
This may be because, in the early days, a town really didn't exist until the
church was created, since he was clearly still in Hartford
when the area was first settled. The Congregational custom was to choose seven
men called the Seven Pillars who covenanted with each other, then others joined
the fellowship. At Farmington He was one of the Seven in 1652. Fourteen men and
their families constituted the church at the close of
the year 1652. Roger Newton did missionary work among the Indians, "civilizing"
and Christianizing them, receiving a large class for instruction, of whom a few
gathered into the church and became voters in affairs of the new town.

In 1657 some Indians (likely not the Tunxis) became very "troublesome."
They cruelly murdered Mr. Scott, one of the seven Pillars and burned the house
of John Hart, who with his family perished in the flames. Roger Newton soon
after left Farmington with his
family for Boston. In October, 1658
he engaged passage for England.
Bad weather with strong winds hindered the departure for several days. This
apparently was a bad "omen" to the superstitious sailors. While Newton
was conducting services in Boston, the captain of the ship, decided in his own
mind that young minister Newton, like the biblicalJonah,was jinxedby not following God's
will to stay in country, so he sailed away without him.

The timing, and the captain's fears, proved good for Newton
and Milford. Milford,
after the death of Rev. Peter Prudden, was without a minister so the church sent
Elder Thomas Buckingham to Boston
to find one but he died soon after his arrival, June 16, 1657. The choosing of a minister was an
important matter in those early days, as it was often a relationship for the
duration of the clergyman's life. With the failure of the Buckingham mission, the
position remained open until 1660 when Roger Newton's talents came to the
attention of the Milford folk for
consideration as new Pastor.

He removed to Milford, Conn.,
with Mary Hooker, his wife, and their family of six children, and was received
into the church as a member July 29,
1660, elected pastor on August 22 and ordained with prayer and
fasting September 9th. His second ordination (after Farmington) was not by a
council of neighboring ministers as was the custom, but by the laying on of
hands of members of the Milford church: Elder Zachariah Whitman, Deacon John
Fletcher and Mr. (eventually Governor and MHOF inductee) Robert Treat,
Magistrate.

With his young family it was necessary that he should
immediately have a dwelling, so the town conveyed to him "the house and
home lot beyond DreadfulBridge,
fourteen acres of meadow and as much upland as he should want." Later he
had other grants of land. Property so given to a minister, became his alone,
and the church or town had no further claim upon it. The parsonage of Peter
Prudden, his predecessor, on the other side of the WepowageRiver, was inherited by his
children, so was no longer town/church property for Newton's
use.

There is some confusion that his "home-lot" was "beyond
DreadfulBridge."
The ford at today's West Main Street
was crossed by the "MeetinghouseBridge" constructed in 1641.
Perhaps the bridge had become "dreadful" by 1660? Not likely; the inhabited
land within the stockade was well laid out and distributed. In the North
Street area, where his home was, no substantial
acreage was available in 1660 within the timber walled town. More likely said
bridge linked the "piece of upland beyond DreadfulBridge" given to him outside
the palisades. This was at"DreadfulSwamp" (An vast area from
today's Ford Street area
and I-95 almost to Beaverbrook), therefore beyond "dreadful Bridge."

The Regicide judges, Whalley and Goffe, hid out for two
years from August 19, 1661,
in a cellar very near Newton's
parsonage. A historical paper said "The presence of the Regicides was
known to Governor Treat and to Rev. Roger Newton; they often walked in a grove
back of the house where they were living." Newton
was for God, but as to the King? seemingly, not so much.

Under Newton, his
church received 164 persons. At the time of his death, it numbered about 200. That
did not mean just anyone could join. He was deemed a "judicious
pastor." Some cared nothing for church but desired admission for its
worldly advantages. Others, not full church members, just sought baptism for
their children. Newton was against any
half way measures. Among the last of the puritans, a Christian to him was all
in or all out. It was a losing fight as the public became increasing less
religiously strict. Though "Old School" in this, his was not an
ill-informed position. Newton was
one of the most educated of ministers in all of New England.
The library of Roger Newton was a marvel for his time. In an age when a Bible
and catechism was an ordinary library and a score of books a clergyman's, he
had more than two hundred volumes in all.

As Thomas Hooker, had done for him, Newton
received young men in his household to educate them, including Abraham Pierson,
first President of Yale College. Newton's
successor Rev. Andrew (MHOF Inductee: 2009) would serve and host the nascent YaleCollege itself at the church in Milford.

At the beginning of his last illness in 1683, Roger Newton
made his will. Newton had a huge estate
for those times, valued at £683. In addition to 150 acres in Farmington, it
included much Milford "land in Dreadful Swamp," "land at the
West Noockes;" "land near a place commonly called 'Deere's Delight'"
"land by the 'two mile brook;' " "the land between the two
crooks in the Elder's Meadow;" "the new meadow playne;"
"land by the path that goeth over the round meadow brook;" "the
new fields by the river;" and "land at a place commonly called
'Bohemia.'" Experts in Milford
historical topography take note!

Rev Newton Died June
7, 1683 having served the Church
of Christ for 22 years and about
six months. Mary predeceased him on February
4, 1676, his greatest loss in life.

A son of Capt.
John W. Wilcox (b. 1832) and Anna M. Davidson Wilcox (b. 1836) of Milford, Clark Wilcox had roots here at least back
to the revolutionary war. He removed to Brooklyn, NY in 1876. There he got involved in the hat
industry. He developed a huge business in clothing Wilcox's Millinery, 109 - 111 Myrtle Ave
and bridge street in Brooklyn,
NY(roughly today's site of the NYU Polytechnic School of
engineering) with a 20,000 square foot building for manufacturing, warehouse
with 163 linear feet of retail space.

Clark ran Wilcox's Millinery House as president
with two of his three surviving siblings (of 5), Lorren (VP) (b. 1859), and
George (Sec./Treas.) (b. 1865). Boasting "the Best
Hats in New York" his advertised prices ranged (in 1903) from School hats
at 15 cents to fancy straw and chiffon hats priced at $2.98 to $4.98, marked down
from the kingly sum of $7.98 to $9.98. Their ad in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
priced his goods two to five times higher than rival Milkman's Millinery of
Fulton Street whose ad was often posted right next to his. Clearly Wilcox had
cornered the "luxury hat" market in Brooklyn.

Wilcox's success
was good news for Milford as Clark Wilcox, who summered at WalnutBeach, became a great benefactor of the Village of Milford. After 33 years building his fortune in New York, he decided to return to Milford. Actually, with some considerable thought
toward finality, he had decided some time back to return here permanently as
way back in 1894 he bought his burial plot in MilfordCemetery!

Wealthy ClarkWilcox owned many properties by purchase or
inheritance around town: 17 acres on the Housatonic; 38 lots in
"Westfield"; land on the today's Harborside Drive facing Wilcox Park
which he, and then his estate, sold off as residential lots; a large area of
land between Old Field Lane and the Indian River "gulf" which he sold
to George Wilcox in 1913 (some of it was a golf course until purchased for
residential development in today's Wilcox Road area); and Land on High Street,
corner of Broad, that eventually became Cody-White Funeral Home and northward across
the railway tracks, the seed company headquarters of Everett Clark (MHOF
Inductee: 2014) later 'Asgrow.'

Returning
permanently to Milford, in July 1909 he purchased 10 acres to build a $30,000
"cottage" on Welch's Point Road. Today the "cottage," "EveningsideMansion," (later owned by the Stuart family,
saved by Joseph H. Blichfeldtand now occupied by sports radio
personality Dan Patrick) is worth over $2.5 Millions and pays one of Milford's top ten highest property tax rates. In
December '09 Wilcox added the waterside land west of the "new road on the
bluff"(Gulf Street extension from Old Field La. to the terminus of previously dead ending
Welch's Point Road) from the Merwin and Gunn families to be kept forever
without construction of house or barn under penalty of forfeiture. Use of this
land would be a development controversy in the 1990s. Apparently a "bath
house" was not a violation, so through the teens, twenties and thirties,
parties were held there and on the lawns overlooking Charles island. Eventually
the sound claimed the "lawns" leaving the party "Summer
house" perched on the very edge of the cliff today.

Most significantly,
in 1908 Wilcox also purchased property from Franklin H. Fowler, then of Manhattan, NY. This land was part of area granted to
William Fowler (MHOF inductee: 2012) in early colonial days if he would build
and run the nearby 'Fowler's Mill.' Fowler did, and he and his descendants continued
to do so for about 270 years. Wilcox spent considerable effort cleaning up the neglected
area then known "Harbor Woods." He added many trails including some for
automobiles (his big Pierce Arrow being one of the early cars in the village). For
the 270th anniversary of Milford in 1909, Clark Wilcox announced his
intention to donate this parcel to the community.

Clark Wilcox gave
"WilcoxPark" (as the grateful Board of Selectman
named it), a 12 acre parcel of land along the harbor, as a bird sanctuary in
perpetuity to the city on August 28, 1909. The dedication ceremony was a who's who
of 1900's Milford. Present was submarine inventor Simon
Lake, dry goods dealer Eldridge Cornwall, Inventor and industrialist William B.
McCarthy (Rostand Co.) who was then president of the Milford Improvement
Association, Rev. Peter McClen, Pastor of St. Mary RC church, State Rep. G.F.
Smith, First Selectman Frank T. Munson, the Milford Military Band, combined
choirs of Milford Churches, a singing quartet, Clark's family and a large
assemblage of citizens.

The map entitled: "WilcoxPark, as presented by Clark Wilcox to the Town of Milford, dated August 29, 1909"
was duly filed in the Milford Land Records as Map E-299 along with the deed. Maintenance
and use of the park is controlled by ordinance of the City of Milford (most recently Article VII
Sec. 16-192, Ordinance of 4-5-1993).

The park has had
a long history of alternating neglect and frenzied improvement. In the mid
1960's Milford boy scouts gathered to rake the woods
clean of years of fallen leaves re-opening trails to hikers, bikers and
drivers. In 1993 non-pedestrian access was severely restricted by ordinance so
today "No person shall ride, walk or
possess a bicycle, tricycle, motorbike, motorcycle or non-motorized wheeled
vehicle within the park except upon the paved road or in areas specifically
designated for such use by the Park, Beach and Recreation Commission"exempting only wheelchairs operated by
handicapped persons, baby carriages and strollers containing infants and [of
course] City … vehicles.

The low-land north of the park's high
ground was once part of the harbor. A severe storm washed silt down the flooded
WepawaugRiver in the 1880's ending the village's reign as a port and
significant boat building center. Fly ash from Bridgeport's and neighboring power plants was dumped there as fill
for decades until the mucky area was dressed up in the late 1950's to become Milford's important activity area, Fowler Field, as it is today.

SimonLake's "Explorer" Submarine sat neglected in this
area from 1950 to 1964 until it was moved to the Bridgeport Museum of Art and
industry then loaned to the submarine museum at Groton in 1974 where it was beautifully restored. It was returned
to Milford in the 1990's and now proudly rests near the landing on Factory Lane.

Alsoin the
1990's, with the creation of the public marina now known as Lisman Landing, the
shoreline area of the park got an enlarged boat launch ramp, dockage and parking,
a trail and gazebo along the marsh side the harbor with public and handicapped
access.

By 2002 much of the park had again
fallen into disrepair. The Environmental Concerns Coalition (ECC)
with support of scouts, students and others worked to restore native species
and weed out invasive flora following the guidelines of the National Wildlife
Federation. In October 2003 the public and government officials gathered to
celebrate the restoration.

Andrew
Law (1749–1821)
was an American composer, preacher and singing teacher. He was born in Milford,
Connecticut. Law, a devout Calvinist and an
ordained Minister, never took a position as a clergyman. He was educated at Rhode Island
College (now Brown Univ.). Music was his chosen profession.

Law
wrote mostly simple hymn tunes and arranged tunes of other composers. His works
include Select Harmony (1778) a compilation ofsacred "Psalm" songs of America and
Britain. He advanced American Music as he elevated relatively unknown, and
unaccomplished, young American composers stature so as to stand beside William
Billings and the well established and prolific Britons with his rules of
singing.

In 1778 at 29, while the
revolutionary war raged about him, he and his brother William set up a tune
book printing business in Cheshire, often printing books he himself created by
compiling the works of others (copyright issues anybody?).Ironically he petitioned the legislature to
protect his compilation of mostly other's works, the ponderously titled "A Collection of Hymn Tunes from the Most
Modern and Approved Authors," and won in 1781, by special act ofthe Legislature, the very first copyright
ever granted in the state (the first Connecticut copyright law for "the
encouragement of genius" was not passed until 1783 (Repealed 1812)).

Select Harmony was a revolutionary advance
over the tune books of the time.It
contained tunes and lyrics together in the same book. Typically tune books, as
the name suggests, contained tunes only. A collection of Hymns only had text.
Law's other books, including his copyrighted work, sometimes followed the more
traditional approach.

Several
updated editions of Select Harmony
were produced in 1779, 1782 and 1812 and more books were produced as well
including:Collection of Best Tunes
and Anthems (1779);then, perhaps
his most impressive work, the instructional
Art of Singing (1780) a graded trio of books for beginners (Primer) moderate (Christian Harmony) and advanced choirs and musical societies (The Musical Magazine) then Rudiments of Music (1785)and later in life Essays on Music
(1814).

Select Harmony was introduced at a
time when America's first music educators were seeking viable approaches to the
teaching of sight-singing, Andrew Law was a pioneer of the FASOLA system of
musical notation which simplified lessons in reading music. FASOLA singing is
also known as "Shape Note Singing," where Squares, ovals triangles and
other symbols are used to denote easy to read musical notes do, re, mi, fa,
sol, etc..

Andrew Law was less a musical
innovator or composer than an editor, organizer and propagator of music to the
gerneral public. He was influenced a great deal by works of other Yankees. James
Lyons' Urania, appearing in 1761, was found among the possessions of Andrew
Law.

Most
of his life's work focussed on teaching music in schools (almost exclusively at
home or chuch based sites). He took his traveling "Law choir," made
up of his students, to many churches around New England. He stunned
congregations and revolutionized their thinking with the beauty of their
singing when he put the melody in the soprano "treble" instead of the
tenor part. He was among the first American composers to do so.

As a singing School master Law
affected the lives of many. He Instructed african-American slave Newport
Gardner in Rhode Island. Gardner became the first African American composer of Western
music, heavily influenced by Law's sacred music. Gardner's works drew on powerful West African poetic melodies chronicling
every major aspect of life which, when combined with his rich "remarkably
strong and clear voice,"opened a
new chapter in American Music. The Soulful bible music training by Law to Mrs.
Gardner's talented slave contributed to the spirituals, gospel music, blues,
jazz and modern music that followed. (Newton Gardner and family was freed in
1791 with funds won on a lottery ticket bought and proceeds split with Gardner's friends).

Law's work on "FASOLA,"
copyrighted in 1802 (though he claimed later to have developed it in the 1780s)
was quickly adopted by others. His great regret was that he little profited from
his works financially, even though he aggressively marketed his books to
protestant congregations. Rivals in a very similar approach to his "Shaped
notes," William Little and William Smith of Philadelphia, had been granted copyright protection in 1798 of their
nearly identical shape note system and their tune book beat his by two years.
Their approach retained the musical staff on notes so received even more
acceptance and retained its popularity into the 20th Century while Law's
approach faded.

Classical notation is the norm
now, the simplified versions of Law and Little & Smith, lost influence as
the need to cater to relatively uneducated, simple country folk waned. Andrew
Law is still credited as being one of the musical giants of 18th Century America.

In Early colonial days the primacy of the man of the house was
sacrosanct. If you reviewed the history of Milford Colony you would think that
there were man brave men but only two women. This was not the case of course.
Milford was full of brave women dedicated to home building and child rearing,
and when the need arose, just about anything a man could do. Women in the
English system were under their father's until married, then all her
possessions were "owned" by her husband; some might say, "as was
she." Career women were a rarity, as was any "spinster" who
retained control, of her own fortune, usually inherited. The Widow Martha Beard
was nearly unique of her gender in her independence. She was one of the first
settlers and one of the two women separately accounted on the rolls of the
colony, mere wives and daughters being considered simply an annex of the man of
the house.

Martha Beard was born ca. 1603 Epping in Essex, England, sailed from
England with the Reverends Davenport and Prudden party from England, with her
husband and five children, and settled in Milford, CT, in 1639. Her husband,
whose name tradition says was James, died during the passage from England to
America

She was admitted to the First Congregational Church of Milford on
November I, 1640.

This church was organized in 1639' She died June ll,1649-

The names of the first settlers are engraved on the Memorial Bridge and
with the names

is inscribed this quotation from Straughton of the Massachusetts Colony:
"God sifted a

whole nation that he might send choice seed-grain over into this wilderness."

These first settlers located on each side of the Mill River, today's
Wepawaug River, and West End Brook (the almost unnoticed stream which still
runs behind today's West Avenue). Their "house lots" were laid out in
parallel slips, containing about three acres each. Some had double lots - two
slips adjoining.

In consideration of her affliction, the Widow Martha Beard was given an
extra amount of "house lott" her share being 4 acres 1 rod. Each planter
had to erect a good house on his lot within three years, or it was to go back
to the town (presumably for redistribution).

At a general meeting held November 22, l639, it was voted how many acres
of "house lott" upland and
meadow should be assigned to each of the settlers, of whom only six had as large
a portion as widow Martha Beard. she had 6 acres for her house lot, 37-1/2 of

upland and 19 of meadow. At three different times, the allotment of
land given to her by

the town was increased. It is not recorded what service the young woman
did for the Town, but it obviously demanded the respect and gratitude of her
townsfolk.

Her oldest child, John, fought as a captain in King Phillip's War. After
the defeat of the Pequots in 1635, King Phillip and his brother were likened to
Kings Phillip and Alexander of Ancient Greece for their military prowess and
noble bearing. Phillip, who was really named Metacom, grandson of Massasoit the
Wampanoag who welcomed the Pilgrims in 1620, attempted to wage a war of
annihilation against the colonists in 1675. Martha Beard did not actually
experience the greatest threat to its existence Milford ever faced,she died while still young on June ll,1649.

Another descendant, George W. Baird, served in the Civil War and went
on to become a Brigadier General. He received the Medal of Honor for his deeds
at Bear Paw Mountain in Montana while battling the Nez Perce Indians under the
famed Chief Joseph. General Baird is a Milford Hall of Fame Honoree (2008).

Martha Beard is one of the few, if any, women who was name was independently
engraved on the Memorial Bridge in Milford.

Mr. Charles C. Beard, of Shelton, CT, has in his possession a rapier
type sword which, tradition says, was brought from England by Martha Beard and
her husband.

Omar William Platt is another of Milford's home grown heroes who earned
his place on the hall of fame by serving his community all his life not
venturing out into the world to make his name. Omar Platt was listed by the
local paper, the Milford Citizen, as the most influential person in Milford
Politics in the first half of the 20th Century. A unique distinction well
earned.

It is hard to find a political post he did not hold. He was Town
Prosecutor; Judge of Probate; 40 year member of the Board of Education,
chairman for 35 of those years;

Chairman of the Taylor Library Board: Chairman of the Republican Town
Committee: Delegate to the Republican National Convention during the Roaring
Twenties to Nominate President Calvin Coolidge; Member of the State Republican
Central Committee; Chairman of the WWI Memorial Committee; Chairman of the
300th Anniversary, Tercentenary, Committee in 1939; and presided over the
Milford Historical Society as its Chair for 30 years.

That is not to say he was just a political animal her also
distinguished himself in business serving as president of the Milford Trust
Company (bank), and Milford Hospital.

Early in his career he distinguished himself as a legislator.According to Taylor's Legislative History of
the State of Connecticut: "Omar
William Platt, of Milford, has had the honor of representing his native town in
the Legislature for two consecutive terms, 1901 and 1903. Mr. Platt is an
influential Republican and has been prosecuting attorney of Milford
since 1901. He is intensely interested in the welfare and prosperity of his
town. He is a highly esteemed member of the Congregational Church, and is a
Knight Templar. He gained an enviable reputation in the House of Representatives,
serving as a member of the Committees on Judiciary and Judicial Nominations,
and as chairman of the Committee on New Towns and Probate Districts. He took a
prominent part in the debates and won the respect and admiration of all for his
prompt, earnest, eloquent and determined manner. He richly deserves continued
honors from the hands of his townsmen."

Omar Platt was a direct descendant of the town founders. He is
the son of William Platt (b. 11/17/1823)
and Almira A. (Hand) Platt of Watertown, CT, born January 30, 1874. Almira was the second wife of William
Platt, (his first wife Sarah Oviatt, sometimes thought to be Omar's Mother,
died December 14, 1866).

He attended Hopkins Grammar then Yale College, class of 1899,
and Yale Law School, class of 1903. He was admitted to the New Haven County Bar
in June, 1903. He
married Charlotte Baldwin (another descendant of the founders) on 17November 1904 but had no children. He died in Milford on 22 November
1957

Two anecdotes help define "Judge"
Platt. The first, related by Russell
Clarke, was that, on one occasion when Omar double parked his car in front of
Issie's Newsroom on River Street, (a common practice well into the 1970s), a
rookie cop ticketed his car. Omar emerged from the store, took the ticket from
his windshield, tore it in half and threw it into the street. He, of course,
got away with it. He was, Mr. Clark said, "the King of Milford."

When the old Town Hall burned in 1915, Omar directed one of the firemen
to play his hose through a window onto the Town Clerk s vault and, not matter
what anyone else told him, to keep his hose on the vault. The town records were
at least partially saved though many Milford ladies took the opportunity to
reduce their ages as many birth records had to be recreated. An act they would
come to regret as retirement benefits started in the 1930s.

About Me

This Site is dedicated to the History of Milfod Connecticut, Oldest and largest of all the many Milfords, New Milfords, East, West North and South Milfords spanning this great Country of ours.
I am an attorney of 30 years,
My credentials include: Alderman 1993-1997; Chairman, Planning and Zoning Board,1991-3 member 1990; Chairman, Milford Board of Health, 1982, 1983
Member, 1981; Mayor's Youth Advisory Cmtee. 1984-1987 and suicide prevention task force; Rotary (pp); Elks; Director: United Way, United Way, YMCA; Explorer advisor BSA.
My Genealogy includes direct descent from most of Milford's founding families and such personalities as Richard Platt, Deacon George Clark, Sgt. John Smith, Gov. Robert Treat, Revs. Andrew and Newton, Stephen and Freelove Baldwin Stowe and Revolutionary warriors David Clark and Jedidiah Stowe. The line of Thomas Barnes who arrived in Masschussetts on the Speedwell in 1656, and by subsequent intermarried lines include descent from the Fargos of Wells Fargo fame and Mayflower passengers Cooke and Warren. Please enjoy our rich History, Jos. B. Barnes, Esq